Kimchili is a great place for friends to meet up and share a meal together
South Korean food is known for being communal with eating viewed as a social activity. Lots of different side dishes and stews are usually placed at the centre of the table with everyone free to dig in, which is believed to help foster connections with friends, co-workers, and family.
If you are looking for a new place to take friends to enjoy a meal together, you might want to try out Kimchili, the latest South Korean restaurant to open in the city of Cambridge. The cosy restaurant is run by a chef who has worked with Michelin star talents and famous chefs in the past, including James Martin.
CamBites is a series that sees our reporters go around Cambridgeshire in search of the best food that doesn’t cost too much money. With its different sharing options and homely food, Kimchili might be the perfect place for a get together.
I decided to head down there and see if the food is worth spending your money on. When I arrived at Kimchili, I noticed a few of the tables were filled with families and friends enjoying a meal even though it was a Wednesday afternoon.
The menu is quite small but features a range of traditional dishes such as jeon, which is a savoury pancake, and bibimbap, which is a bowl of steamed rice topped with vegetables and meat. During the evenings, there are a few options for sharing such as the grilled pork belly BBQ set or the spicy stir-fried chicken.
I chose the jajangmyeon, which is a great comfort dish and cost £15.50. Jajangmyeon is a noodle dish that is covered in black bean sauce and topped with chopped vegetables and diced pork.
While waiting for my dish, I was served a range of different banchan that were included in the price of my meal. Banchan are little side dishes that you eat alongside your main meal and included things like cucumber kimchi, beansprouts, and black soybeans.
After a short wait, I was handed my bowl of jajangmyeon that has lathered in the dark black bean sauce and was visibly steaming. The noodles were perfectly cooked and had a light and chewy texture that made them incredibly moreish.
The noodles worked well with the black bean sauce that had a rich umami flavour and a beautifully glossy look. The vegetables added a lovely crunch to the dish and helped to enhance the taste of the sauce.
The pork topped off the dish nicely and wasn’t overcooked at all. The delicious banchan sides also went nicely with the noodles and I particularly enjoyed the kick from the spicy cucumber kimchi that helped to cleanse my palate.
While I only tried one dish from Kimchili, I feel confident in going back to the restaurant and knowing all of its options will be incredible. The focus on homely food makes it a great choice for friends wanting to meet and share some food together.
Found on King’s Street, the South Korean restaurant is a nice addition to Cambridge’s already vibrant food scene. Kimchili can be found at 10 King Street in Cambridge.
The restaurant is open for lunch from 12pm to 3pm on Tuesdays to Sundays and from 5pm to 8.30pm for dinner apart from on Fridays and Saturdays when it closes at the later time of 9.30pm.
All of our food reviews are paid for by the writer. The establishments do not know we will be reviewing their food, allowing us to make fair judgements on each place.




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